Chapter 3
“W-why? What are you trying to say to me right now?”
Anna suddenly grabbed Orte’s arm tightly.
“Of all days, today is the Duke of Weekend’s birthday! Does it make any sense to say you won’t go? Go down to the dining room right now!”
Orte seemed to resist, but soon she had no choice but to get up from the bed under Anna’s grip.
Orte looked at Anna’s back with a strange expression. Anna not only shouted at her, but also touched her body roughly.
What should I do.
She had already decided not to love them, but she still hadn’t organized her thoughts on what to do next.
With the body of a mere thirteen-year-old, she couldn’t overpower a working maid. So Orte was dragged along.
She stumbled several times along the way, but Anna didn’t slow down at all.
“Please come in!”
Only when they arrived in front of the dining room did Anna slow down.
But at that moment, the door suddenly opened.
Still being dragged, Orte lost her balance and fell forward into the dining room.
“Ah…”
Her palms and knees throbbed, and she let out a small groan.
As she lowered her head, enduring the lingering shock, a pair of luxurious men’s shoes appeared in front of her.
“Parasite?”
At that familiar name, Orte raised her head.
The owner of the shoes was Ellen.
At the table sat the Duke of Weekend and Clef.
“M-Miss! Are you alright?”
Startled by the loud noise of her fall, Anna hurried over.
Even though the pain hadn’t faded yet, Anna forcibly pulled Orte to her feet.
Orte’s small, thin body was lifted up easily by Anna.
“Hey, you…”
Ellen moved his lips, then continued,
“Are you crazy? Why are you coming now? I heard from Colin—you said you weren’t coming?”
He stepped closer to Orte.
Orte looked at him.
Unlike the version in her last memories, he looked young. Just a boy who had only recently reached adulthood.
“Orte.”
At the low voice, Orte’s shoulders flinched slightly.
She turned to Clef, who was looking at her with a face identical to the Duke of Weekend.
Clef also looked young.
Not the adult she was used to seeing.
It made her truly realize—this was five years in the past.
“Why did you say you wouldn’t come down?”
“Brother, does she even need a reason? She probably wanted attention and came up with a new method.”
Ellen roughly shook his hair and sat down.
“Hey, parasite. If you have any sense, sit down.”
Until Orte quietly took her seat, Clef kept watching her.
The Duke of Weekend did not look at her at all.
Orte looked down at the food placed in front of her.
Then she slowly turned her gaze to the Duke of Weekend.
“I have something to say.”
“Are you trying to make excuses?”
Even while dessert was being served, the Duke of Weekend kept his eyes on the documents as he spoke.
“Parasite, like Father said, go ahead and make an excuse. What, did you oversleep?”
Ellen looked her over.
“Huh? You didn’t even bring Father’s gift? You?”
There was clear surprise in his voice.
Only then did Orte remember how, every year, she had poured all her effort and sincerity into preparing the Duke’s birthday gift.
What did I prepare when I was thirteen?
She couldn’t remember. She had gone through too many regressions—things from long ago had become unclear.
Ellen sighed.
“Just tell your maid to bring it—”
“No.”
Orte cut him off.
Ellen couldn’t hide his shock at being interrupted.
But Orte didn’t even glance at him and spoke to the Duke instead.
“What I wanted to say is related to the gift.”
The Duke of Weekend slightly nodded without lifting his eyes from the documents.
It meant—go on.
“I won’t call you Father anymore.”
“….”
The Duke of Weekend blinked, then finally raised his gaze and looked at Orte.
Orte calmly met his eyes.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You didn’t like it when I called you Father.”
She had known that—and still insisted on calling him that on purpose.
Because every time she said “Father,” she felt like she belonged to this family.
Like she was truly one of them.
How foolish.
Even at the moment of her death, she had called him Father.
But he had never once considered her his child.
“It may not be much of a gift, but I won’t do anything that bothers you anymore.”
Orte stood up from her seat.
“I only came to say this. I’ll take my leave now.”
She lightly lifted the hem of her clothes—and then let it fall.
There was a time she thought her world would collapse if she couldn’t call him Father.
“Duke of Weekend.”
But it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“Miss, why did you come out so quickly?”
Anna immediately followed behind Orte.
“Now that I think about it, you forgot the Duke’s birthday gift. You’re going back to get it, right?”
Only after climbing the stairs did Orte realize she was barefoot.
Anna had dragged her out without even giving her time to put on indoor shoes.
“I won’t get scolded too, right? You’re the one who didn’t prepare it.”
“Anna.”
Orte stopped in front of her door.
“Yes?”
After staring at the constantly chattering Anna, Orte entered the room.
Then she picked up the washbasin Anna had brought earlier.
It was quite heavy, so Orte used all her strength to lift it and walked toward the door.
“Miss?”
Splash—!
“Aaah!”
Anna screamed as freezing cold water poured over her.
It was so cold it felt like it pierced her bones. Her heart felt like it might freeze.
“W-what are you doing right now?!”
“Is it cold?”
“Of course it’s cold!”
Anna shouted angrily.
Water dripped from her hair. Her body soon began to tremble.
Orte looked at her with an indifferent gaze.
“You brought it like this every day. I thought you didn’t know it was cold.”
“W-what… what do you mean…?”
Anna’s face turned pale.
“I… I really didn’t know.”
“Really?”
Orte stepped closer and leaned in.
Anna, meeting her eyes, unconsciously shut her mouth.
“I don’t think so.”
At Orte’s quiet muttering, Anna suddenly came back to her senses.
“I-it’s true! It’s true!”
“Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter.”
Orte stepped back.
“What matters is—”
She threw the washbasin onto the floor.
The loud noise made Anna flinch and let out a small scream.
“You’re fired.”
Orte firmly locked the door.
“Sister.”
A gentle, kind voice.
“Would you like to have tea with me?”
From the moment they first met, Orte had always been weak toward Yvonne.
Yvonne had dark black hair and shining golden eyes—the very features Orte loved so much in the Weekend family.
That day was no different.
Orte couldn’t refuse Yvonne’s offer.
It was almost laughable.
Even though it was the day it was revealed that the divine mark Yvonne had was real.
I hated and was jealous of someone as kind as Yvonne. I’m truly worthless.
Even after it was revealed that she was the fake, Yvonne was still kind to her.
Seeing that, Orte felt ashamed of herself for being jealous.
And in the end, she asked—
“Yvonne… do you hate me?”
“What?”
“Strictly speaking, you’re the real one, and I am…”
Orte couldn’t finish her sentence.
Yvonne tilted her head while holding her teacup.
“Ah.”
Then she laughed.
“You asked that so carefully… over something like that?”
“Something like that…?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected words, Orte looked at her.
Yvonne set down her untouched teacup.
“I don’t care about things like that, Sister. If anything, I’m grateful. Before I appeared, you took my place for Father and my brothers.”
“Took your place?”
“Yes, as the youngest daughter. If even you hadn’t been there, how sad would Father and my brothers have been?”
“Ah…”
Orte nodded without thinking.
But a strange discomfort remained.
“Well, it was interesting for a while… but I’m starting to get bored.”
Yvonne picked up her teacup.
“What do you mean?”
“Sister, you don’t have to pretend to be kind anymore. You actually hate me enough to poison me, right?”
“What? Yvonne, what are you—”
Yvonne took a sip of tea.
Then suddenly covered her mouth.
“Cough!”
In the next moment—
Blood poured from Yvonne’s mouth.
